sea2mist, your original question was whether it would be better to design a one-story or a two-story home with elevator. The best answer to that question is really "which one do you like better?" A two story home without elevator would probably cost a little bit less to build than a one story home with the same useable square footage. Add on the cost of an elevator and they would probably run fairly close to the same amount. I built a two-story with an elevator simply because I LIKE two story-homes with big wrap-around porches and had always dreamed of owning one and also knew I wanted to be able to live in my dream home till the day I died. We have nearly 4 acres so I could just as easily have built the entire house all on one level. But I knew I would never be satisfied with a one-story house. I WANTED two stories. All our bedrooms are on the second floor and the entire house - including the attic - is wheelchair accessible. At current prices, a home elevator will run you about $20,000 to $40,000 depending on the model. Not cheap certainly but in comparison to the overall cost of a typical custom home (especially one in the size you're contemplating) it is not outrageously expensive either. It is quite likely that your land will run you more than the cost of an elevator IF you decide you really want a two-story home that you can live in forever. Until you get a better idea of where you want to live tho, doing too much in the way of "designing" your dream home is really an exercise in futility. Remember that the location of a house really can and should dictate many aspects of the house. Mountainous terrain may make a walk-out basement highly desirable. On the other hand, decide to settle in the Houston area and it would be the height of foolishness to have a basement. A house that would be perfect on an Oregon mountainside would not function well on a the Florida coast. A house that would be wonderful in the dry mountain air of Santa Fe would be miserable in New Orlean's hot muggy climate. And, it would be sad if you spent hours and hours designing a home with big windows to take advantage of the southern sun, only to then buy a piece of land with a perfectly charming view toward the northeast but a big ugly office building on the south. While it is great to dream and fine to start making sketches and playing with design software if it helps you visualize things, don't get "married" to a design until you have at least decided what part of the country you want to live in. And, even better, wait till you've actually found your own little slice of heaven and then let the house be designed to take fullest advantage of your land. BTW, I do agree with a previous poster that the room sizes you are contemplating are quite a bit larger than they really need to be. Do keep in mind that rooms that are too large can feel less "homey" than more modestly-sized spaces.

Allison I don't see a house in your picture? What am I missing? I want to see the fugly house! :) Might be because my DH is one, but IMO if you are building or opening walls/ceilings you should make sure there is a lighting designer on the project. They are often subbed in by the interior designer or architect and they specialize in function first design. They are always thinking about how you will use the space, where you will want to have outlets, lights, how you will control them and from where, etc. A beautiful decorative is beautiful but may not provide enough light; a good LD can help place other lighting that supports your tasks without detracting from the lovely decorative. They will go to bat with the contractor and electrical contractor as needed, and provide support to them if they have difficulty with installation or support. I, too, am depressed by the houses that look like big garages attached to tiny houses. My ILs recently bought a house on a gorgeous site facing a salt marsh, but we feel utterly Lilliputian in it - everything is big - the doors are extra wide and high, the windows are huge, etc. It feels like a Supersize Me house. (It's not ADA compliant, either, I did think of that but the counters and knobs are regular height, there are high thresholds, and no full bath on the first floor). I guess I finally understand what scale would feel right for the huge, extra deep sectionals that I see advertised at RH and others!

What are you putting on the island...cooktop or sink (please tell me sink........)? While it's less than ideal to put a sink or cooktop in an island, the lesser of two evils is the sink in the island. If you're putting the cooktop in the island & it's b/c you want to visit with people while cooking...remember this:70% of your time spent in a kitchen is Prepping 20% is spent cleaning up 10% is spent cookingSo, what does it make sense to do on the island if you want to spend most of your time visiting while working in the kitchen? Prep. The least sense? Cooking. Now, safety...cooking is the worst thing to do in an island (or peninsula) unless you have at least 24" of countertop behind & on each side of the cooktop. Yes, it's more than NKBA states for non-seating (NKBA is silent on seating...which might mean it's a "no-no"); but from experience and common sense, 24" is better. [Think about someone spreading homework or the newspaper out on the island while you're cooking. Think about the steam from boiling water drifting over to the people sitting there. Think about how far grease splatters. Think about someone walking by or even running by while you're cooking...carrying papers, backpack, etc....and not being careful where they are in relation to the cooking surface.] Hopefully, all this is moot & it's the sink in the island...(even then, if you have seating at the island strive for 18" b/w the faucet and edge of the seating overhang to minimize visitors being splashed; 15" will work, but 18" is better). **** As to prep.... Unlike others, my prep area is driven by where my sink & cooktop are, not where there's a view or social interaction. I find the easiest and most natural place to prep is b/w my prep sink & cooktop...and that faces a wall. That area has about 40" of workspace (not counting the peninsula). If I need more room, I find myself working on the other side of the cooktop where there's about 5' of workspace b/c of the corner, even though there's no sink there and, again, it's mostly facing a wall. I have a peninsula on the other side of the prep sink that's across from the refrigerator w/about 30" of space, so it could be a logical place for prep. I also have my cleanup sink in front of a big bay window and the refrigerator is on that same run with 51" b/w them. However, 9 times out of 10, I prep b/w my cooktop & prep sink...and I have no problems with it. It's not like I can't visit with others while working there. They can sit at the peninsula and I can glance over to the right at them while I work or I can glance over to the left to see what's going on in the FR. To be honest, when I'm prepping, I prefer to keep my eyes on what I'm doing since so much of my prep work involves knives... All of this leaves the peninsula free for the kids to do homework or work on projects, or for me to setup my laptop when I'm working from home. It leaves the cleanup sink run clear for cleaning up only. No more conflicts! Would I change the location of anything b/c of this? Except for adding a trash pullout in the prep are, I wouldn't change anything else. It works great for us! [Well, maybe I'd change the location of the TV to where I wanted it in the first place but my DH thought he knew better...that way my DH wouldn't keep moving the stool to the "U" so he can be really close to the TV while eating breakfast. I keep biting my tongue to keep from saying "I told you so!"]

I'm afraid you will need to give much better descriptions or call a professional if you want to know what's what.